A Forgotten Community in New Orleans: Life on a Superfund Site

onJun 22, 2014 @ 11:00 PDT

Shannon Rainey lives in a house that was built on top of a Superfund site in the Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans.

“I bought my house when I was 25, and thirty years later, I still can’t get out,” she told DeSmogBlog.

Rainey’s home in Gordon Plaza is part of a subdivision developed by the city in 1981 on top of the Agriculture Street landfill. No one disclosed to the buyers that their new homes were built on top of a dump that was closed in 1965.

Rainey has a view of two other city-owned properties also built on the landfill: the shuttered Morton Elementary School and Press Park, an abandoned housing project developed by the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO).

“If it were white folks back here, this would be all gone,” Rainey says bluntly.

By Julie Dermansky

Julie Dermansky is a multimedia reporter and artist based in New Orleans. She is an affiliate scholar at Rutgers University’s Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights. Visit her website at www.jsdart.com.

us/Civil Rights Case Probes Racism Behind Cancer Alley Pollution

BySharon Kelly

onMar 10, 2026 @ 15:29 PDT

Federal lawsuit claiming local officials illegally pushed polluting industries into Black communities reaches new stage.

Series: Louisiana’s Cancer Alley Communities at Risk

Series: Louisiana's Cancer Alley

As Russia Bombs Ukraine’s Power Plants, Gulf Coast LNG Companies Win Big

ByDelaney Nolan

onMar 9, 2026 @ 04:00 PDT

Record LNG exports to Europe pushing up prices for U.S. consumers even more than forecast.

How the ‘Galapagos of West Africa’ was Plundered by Floating Fishmeal Factories

ByDavide Mancini

onMar 8, 2026 @ 23:00 PDT

Off-shore industrial boats illegally harvest thousands of tonnes of small fish vital to the marine food web in Guinea-Bissau, a DeSmog investigation with The Guardian reveals.

Series: Spotlight on Industrial Aquaculture